BOOK TWO: Dr. MBOGO
Year: 2014
The room was tense. Each computer screen in
the control center had a scientist in front of it. From astrophysicists,
engineers and computer programmers. At the front of the room stood a large
screen. On it was displayed a single message: No signal received. At the front
of the room Dr. Machira stood with the other head of departments. To his left
was prof. Obgaji- the Nigerian in charge of ship life support. Next to him was
Mr. Ali a Moroccan, in charge of ship computer programming. On Machira’s right
stood Dr. Ingosi, a south African in charge of ship design. Dr. Mbogo was the
overall scientist in charge and also acted as the head of propulsion.
On this day his company Muturi Space ship
company had just launched the first space vessel ever to leave our solar
system.
“Alright! Let the bets start coming in!”
One of the scientists in the computer programming department announced.
“Two times the speed of light.” A tech announced
handing over 500 shillings.
Three point one!” A senior propulsion
scientist announced putting 1000 shillings where his mouth was.
They were of course betting on the speed of
the vessel they had just launched. A launch which was a first of its kind,
speed estimates for the propulsion systems had not been estimated. All tests
that had been conducted on earth had been inconclusive. This included one where
a five thousand kilometer tube had been laid across Africa from Lagos to Limuru
and a miniature version of the propulsion system now on the ship tested.
Despite having quantum clocks that could measure time to a trillionth of a
second the miniature ship launched in Nigeria had arrived at limuru in a
non-measurable time. And thus a test in space was all that was left.
The team had worked day and night creating
a life sized version of the ship. They had installed the life support systems,
a hull made of gratonium – a new metal discovered by the company, and a shield
capable of taking any impact force from meteors. This ship had then been
launched at the new limuru space center. Once outside earth the new propulsion
system had been turned on for exactly one second. The ship was designed in such
a way that wherever it ended up in that one second it would transmit a signal
back to earth indicating the distance that it had travelled. This would help
the team determine its speed.
“Dr. Mbogo, what about you?” The self-made
bookie asked. The room went quiet. It was his discovery that had helped create
the new propulsion system.
“Put me down for 2000 shillings” he said.
“What speed sir?”
“Six thousand times the speed of light.”
The room was completely quiet. A quick
calculation showed that if it was so, and factoring in the speed in which the
radio waves from the ship would travel, it would take 23 hours for the signal
to be received.
“Alright,people,” The company CEO announced. “We
better start talking shifts.”
